1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to traffic safety equipment and, more specifically, to the traffic channeling devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many different types of traffic channeling devices have been utilized previously. One type that has been widely used comprises a hollow drum made of a relatively lightweight plastic material which will not cause damage to a vehicle if the vehicle should accidentally strike the drum.
Because such hollow plastic drums are relatively light in weight, some type of ballast is needed to prevent the drums from being inadvertently blown over or moved about by the wind and/or air blasts produced by passing vehicles. One common form of ballast consists of sandbags which may be placed against the base of the drums.
An improvement on the sandbag ballast technique has been to use rubber collars to ballast the drum. The rubber collars, which may be recycled truck tires that have been latitudinally split, are inserted over the drum and exteriorly ballast the drum. This arrangement provided the drums with a relatively low center of gravity. The drums also grip the road over a relatively large surface area to resist tipping of the drums and eliminate “walking” of the drums on the ground which is common to plastic drums.
An example of this type of drum is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,280 to Cowan entitled “Traffic Channeling Devices,” (“Cowan”) which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Cowan discloses that the drum has a stiffened skirt portion adjacent the bottom of the drums to provide enough resistance to the removal of the drum from the rubber collar so that the drums cannot be blown or sucked out from the rubber collar by the wind or passing vehicles while still allowing the drum to distort and break away from the rubber collar upon impact of the drums by a vehicle, leaving the rubber collars in place. Also, the skirt portion of the drums desirably resist rolling of the drums on the ground when dislodged or otherwise removed from the rubber collars.
Cowan also discloses that the rubber collar includes a relatively rigid inner peripheral portion surrounding the drum skirt portion where most of the weight of the rubber collar is concentrated and a relatively flexible outer peripheral portion spaced radially outwardly from the drum in substantial surface contact with the ground for better gripping to resist tipping of the drum and eliminate walking of the drum along the ground. Also, the flexible outer peripheral portions of the rubber collar resists rolling of the drums in the event the drum is completely tipped over while the collar is still in place.
The drum disclosed in Cowan has a loose fit in the rubber collar which allows the drum to flex and vibrate under traffic and wind conditions without tipping over or moving laterally. If the drum should tip over, the loose fit of the collar allows the collar to move up on the drum, making it more difficult for the drum to roll on the ground.
Unfortunately, the loose fit of the Cowan drum also permits it to rotate relative to the collar, which is highly undesirable. The drum rotation occurs from the wind and vacuum created by passing vehicles exerting a rotational or tangential force on the drum. The drum rotation is a distraction to passing motorists, creating a hazard.
It is also highly undesirably to have a drum rotate relative to the collar when a warning light is mounted to the drum. Typically, the warning light is mounted off center on the drum top. When the drum is used as a traffic channeling device, having the warning light maintain a constant position is critical for safety reasons. The traffic drum is typically positioned up with the warning light being proximate to the lane of traffic. As the drum rotates, the warning light rotates as well. If the warning light is rotated 90° or 270°, only the edge of light is visible resulting in reduced safety conditions. If the warning light is spun 180°, a passing driver might misjudge the location of the drum and strike it, which is understandably undesirable.
The problem of rotating drums and warning lights is recognized in the traffic channeling device industry. One approach to preventing the drum rotation is to staple a chunk of recycled tire to the lower outside wall of the drum. The tire chunk is positioned such that the inner perimeter of the rubber collar is disposed against it when the collar is inserted over the drum. This arrangement inhibits the drum from rotating in the rubber collar, but not without problems.
A problem with the prior art solution of inhibiting drum rotation is that the staple ends that extend through the lower outside wall of drum will scratch a second drum nested inside the first drum.
Another problem with the prior art solution is that the tire chunk is attached without precision. By not being attached with precision, an opportunity is created for the tire chunk to be misplaced. A misplaced tire chunk will need to be detached from the lower outside wall of the drum and reattached, resulting in unsightly and unnecessary punctures in the drum wall.
The tire chunk is of a single thickness, which creates at least two problems. By having a single thickness tire chunk, the insertion of the ballasting, rubber collar over the drum is difficult. The insertion difficulty arises because the tire chunk abruptly juts out from the drum wall. If the rubber collar is not inserted over the drum carefully, the collar will get caught on the top of the tire chunk and not slide down the outer surface of the tire chunk easily. A second problem is that the rubber collars may be of varying inner diameters, as they are often made from recycled tires. A single tire chunk stapled to the outside of the drum wall does not easily accommodate varying inner diameters of the rubber collars.
A further problem with the recycled tire chunk stapled to the drum outside wall is that it is an unsightly black chunk on the exterior surface of an otherwise brightly colored, well-designed traffic channeling drum.
Therefore, a traffic channeling device or traffic drum is needed that has the advantages of the drum models in the prior art, overcomes the problems associated with stapling a tire chunk to the outside surface of the drum, and does not rotate relative to a ballasting collar.